Dungeon of Desire: Level 2

Despite Theayala's assurances about her protective runes, Xunaxa had difficulty sleeping. Part of it was worrying about goblins, part of it was being so close to people she still hardly knew and trusted only a little more.

And part of it was what had happened before.

In her mind she kept playing Theayala's words.

I thought perhaps the two of you would join us.

Join her and Lurrock in fucking in the steam by the hot springs. Xunaxa had watched the elf-woman suck the dwarf's cock, then ride him until they both reached climax.

After so much magic, I needed a release.

As she had before, Xunaxa realised that Theayala's words had drawn a veil over her meaning. Looking into those slanted emerald eyes, and listening to that soft voice, it was hard not to nod along with everything she said. Yet afterwards it always seemed as if her answer only raised more questions.

If all she wanted was a release, she'd got it from Lurrock. The dwarf had been quite capable of satisfying her.

So why would she need Arivor and me?

Just for fun? Theayala didn't seem the type to do anything just for fun.

I hope that you at least enjoyed watching.

Well yes, Xunaxa and Arivor had enjoyed it. To Xunaxa's surprise, and Arivor's as well.

She wasn't sure how she felt about what had happened. She'd initiated it, and the knight had been respectful, but...

But he was still a boor who called her a she-demon, and he'd only put his lips between her legs to return the favour of her tugging him off. As soon as she'd climaxed --

Fuck, what he did to me!

-- he announced they were done.

I don't like owing anyone,

he said, and when his debt was paid he ended the tryst.

I hope that you at least enjoyed watching.

Was there something more behind the elf's words? Had she expected it to happen? That seemed impossible. The tiefling and the knight had been at each other's throats since the moment they met.

She bit down a curse. It was no use. She'd never get any sleep if she kept worrying. Around her in the near-total blackness of the cavern she could hear Lurrock's rumble -- not quite a snore -- and Arivor's softer breathing. Overlaid over it all was a hum that came in regular harmonies from Theayala, who sat upright, her eyes closed and her hands on her knees. Her chest rose and fell evenly, and the soft purple material of her robe tightened and loosened around her full breasts.

Xunaxa watched for a moment, demon-blood eyes accustomed to the dark, then turned over and pulled her blanket over her head. She decided to imagine what might have happened if Arivor had been a bit more willing. She might still not be able to sleep, but at least her thoughts were more enjoyable.

She only got as far as picturing that scarred hand of his cupping her breast before she was asleep.

*

She wasn't sure at first what woke her. Everything was still black, and Lurrock and Arivor's breathing was as steady and even as before.

The only difference was that Theayala's song had ceased. Xunaxa had heard it in her dreams as a gentle melody that cradled her spirit.

Then the darkness lifted a little. She recognised it as Theayala's loyal ball of magic light. Time to rise, presumably. She rolled onto her back, discarding her blanket, and stretched. "Morning," she murmured, then worked her tongue to moisten her mouth.

Theayala was still sitting as before, though now her eyes were open and the light hovered by her shoulder. "Good morning." Her voice was as smooth as if she'd been awake for an hour. "Although outside these caves the sun has not risen yet."

Xunaxa wondered how the elf knew, but decided against asking. She probably wouldn't get a straight answer anyway. Instead, she clambered to her feet and stretched. "Should we wake the men?"

Theayala glanced at them. "Let them rest for now. It will afford us some privacy." She smiled suddenly. "If we could bring some water, we could tell them to wash here."

Xunaxa found herself grinning back.

An hour later they set out. The mood this morning -- if it was morning -- was lighter than it had been the day before. The two women had watched as Arivor and Lurrock refreshed their half-naked bodies with cold water that Xunaxa brought in a large bucket conjured out of nowhere by Theayala. The men had pointedly ignored the watching women, and Xunaxa's exaggerated leers, but they'd clearly enjoyed the attention.

The group made their way to where Theayala and Lurrock had found the passages to the goblins' hideout the day before. They were still close enough to the hot spring that steam hung thick in the air.

Xunaxa caught Arivor glancing at her. When he noticed her looking back, he smiled, and her lips curled up in response. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

I wonder how he'd react if I told him that now I owe him?

The thought of returning the favour with her mouth -- and then demanding that he redress the new imbalance -- sent a sudden heat into her stomach and below.

Focus!

she scolded herself silently.

You're about to assault a goblin chief and his band, not sneak off into a dark corner to fuck.

She managed to drag her attention back to the present as Lurrock, ahead of her, halted. "This looks like the main way in." His voice was like a rockslide on the surface. "They like to use traps."

Xunaxa didn't wait for anyone to speak. She stepped past the dwarf, eyes searching for the telltale signs of unnatural lines. Theayala's light bobbed closer, and she glanced over her shoulder and nodded her thanks.

Eyes peeled, she moved forward slowly. The elf came close behind, her soft boots silent on the stone. From the way she held her head it was clear she was listening for any sounds. The men kept a few paces back.

They continued this way for a while. Xunaxa's uneasiness grew with every pace. "Where are they?" she whispered. "Where are the traps? What are we missing?"

"I hear something." It was Theayala's voice, soft and insistent. "Water, I think. Running water."

They halted, looked at each other, then peered into the dark. The small globe of light floated ahead, bobbing up and down and sending shadows dancing across the walls of the passage.

Gradually an arch appeared, opening up into blackness. The light only reflected on an uneven bridge spanning a great nothing. The sound of running water was clear, though distorted, as if echoing on stone walls far below.

Soft clinks and shuffling footsteps behind them warned that the warriors were approaching. The scent of metal, oil and man sweat reached Xunaxa's nostrils, and she forced herself not to look around.

"If I were planning an ambush," Arivor breathed, "another ambush, that's where I'd do it."

Lurrock rumbled in agreement. "Lure us here, smooth the way, then catch us out there in the open."

"Archers on the far side." Arivor sounded almost distracted. "Behind large shields, with pikes to keep us off. More archers wherever they can find a perch. A charge from behind to force us out there..."

"We would be fools to let them trap us like that." Theayala's tone was decisive. "If we move forward, we will be caught. If we stay here, we will be forced out, whatever our intentions."

"Then back we go." Xunaxa didn't hesitate. She turned and headed off the way they'd come. Not quite running -- the men would have difficulty keeping up -- but moving swiftly. She pulled out Demon's Tongue as she walked and began to swing it in tight circles.

She heard the others following, and the glow from Theayala's light grew. She waved them back before they came close, though. By herself in the dark she'd stand a better chance of spotting trouble.

Her ears caught it before her eyes did. The scrape of metal on rock, perhaps a score of paces ahead. She froze, raising a hand behind her to stop the others.

Fuck, trapped!

"Xunaxa." It was Theayala's voice, low and almost inaudible in the blackness. "Back here."

Eyes still watching for enemies, she retraced her steps, trying to be as silent as possible. As she approached the small group, she noticed that the elf's light was dimmed, hanging close to the stone overhead, and that the elf and Arivor both had their heads turned up.

As she approached, she whispered, "They're up ahead. Perhaps thirty paces."

A flush spread across Lurrock's bald scalp. "Mudfucker spawn." His hand caressed the head of his hammer. "If I was by myself..."

"Even if you were by yourself," Theayala broke in, "I would not let you have a glorious stand to take as many of them with you as your hammer could reach." She placed a hand on his mailed shoulder, close enough to his head that her fingers disappeared beneath his bushy beard. "You have people at home. And we need you a while longer yet."

Arivor glanced at Xunaxa. "There seems to be a chimney in the rock up there. Can you reach it?"

She looked at the others before answering. "If you give me a boost." She stuffed her chain back into its pouch and slipped her pack from her shoulders.

The knight presented his hands and she put a foot in them. This close, she was unable to block out the scent of his body. She swallowed, smiled at him, then looked up. There was a black hole above her.

"Alright," she whispered, and tried not to think of how close Arivor's mouth was to her body as she shot up. Her fingers grabbed and found handholds, and with the help of the strong hands under her foot she pulled herself up through a short funnel-shaped hole. A few heaves and she found herself on a flat surface.

Theayala's light followed her up to reveal a rough-hewn passage, little more than a natural fissure, that angled down and away.

She turned back to the hole and called down. "There seems to be a way out. It's big enough for all of us."

She heard Lurrock rumble, "You go, lad. I'll help." Moments later Arivor's handsome face appeared before her, none the worse for the traces of dampness that made his curls stick to his forehead.

Xunaxa let him clamber up by himself. He puffed a little, then joined her to peer back down into the blackness below. "My shield?"

It appeared almost instantly, followed by Lurrock's shield and all their packs, and then by Theayala. She let the knight seize her by the arms and lift her up, smiling warmly as he placed her carefully on her feet.

"What about Lurrock?" Xunaxa drew out Demon's Tongue and held it up. "If I let my chain down, can we pull him--?"

But the sorceress had her eyes closed and her hands spread over the hole. Her snake, wrapped around her wrist, lifted itself forward, tongue licking at the air. Theayala's lips moved as if she was murmuring a secret to herself. A flush spread on her neck, and Xunaxa noticed her nipples swell up and press against her robe.

Metal scraped on stone, and Lurrock's head came into view, shining in the dim light. The tattooed hammer stood out in stark contrast. His eyes were squeezed tight shut and his mouth was working, almost in imitation of Theayala's it seemed, and he held his hammer clutched close to his chest.

Xunaxa and Arivor both reached for him, guiding him up, even though the elf's sorcery was doing the lifting. Their touch seemed to relax him a little, but when he was all the way through he collapsed onto the rock with a gasp. With his eyes still closed he managed to mutter, "Cover the hole. The mudspawn are coming."

They didn't wait. Arivor sacrificed his thick cloak to stop their light from betraying them. Then they helped the dwarf to his feet and made their hasty but careful way along the crevice.

Xunaxa led, eyes flicking from side to side, seeking out the smoothest path on the uneven rock. Arivor was close behind her, so close that her imagination told her she could feel his hot breath on her neck.

Then she realised that she was feeling it in truth, only it wasn't the knight's breath. "We're close to the hot spring again," she murmured over her shoulder. Suddenly the memory returned, and she felt a blush flood her cheeks.

Whether or not he noticed it on her grey skin, and in the near-dark, he gave her a tight smile of his own before turning to pass the news to Theayala behind him. Xunaxa swallowed, cursing herself inwardly but unable to suppress a sudden lurch in her stomach, and moved forward again.

The narrow crevice joined the larger passage in a dark corner of a junction where three tunnels met. She jumped down, looking around for any sign of danger. A scuffing sound behind a rock outcropping made her spin, and she found herself face to face with a pair of startled hobgoblins.

With a cry she fell back, one hand groping for the pouch that held Demon's Tongue, the other reaching for her knife.

The hobgoblins were only a fraction slower to react, and they both grinned and levelled their spears at her. "Look what we have here!" one of them said, his voice low and guttural. "A nice plaything."

"Let's keep her alive." The second hobgoblin's voice was a little higher, and Xunaxa realised it was a female. "Look at that tongue!"

Xunaxa managed to drag her chain out and swung it, but it was still tangled and it seemed a small shield against the sharp points that were jabbing at her legs. The female hobgoblin stepped to the left, clearly hoping to take her from the side, but Xunaxa took another step back, and another, struggling to free more and more of Demon's Tongue.

Then light flooded into the passage, and Arivor leaped from the crevice. "By the Sword!" he roared, bringing his blade down hard on the male hobgoblin. His steel seemed to glow bright, brighter than Theayala's small globe, and the hobgoblin fell without a cry, head severed from body.

The female spun to face him, then backed away before turning to run. But Xunaxa had Demon's Tongue ready now, and the chain snaked out and wrapped around the fleeing hobgoblin's ankle. The nails dug into her palms, even through the leather gloves, and the sudden force nearly dragged her off her feet. But she'd been expecting it, and she knew just when to give a hard jerk.

With a cry of surprise and pain, the hobgoblin fell to the stone. Her spear clattered from her hand, and she reached down to free herself.

Then Arivor was standing over her, bloodied blade at her throat, and Theayala and Lurrock were spilling into the passage to join them.

Xunaxa knelt down to unwind the chain from the hobgoblin's ankle. "Thanks," she murmured to Arivor. "You were just in time."

He didn't take his eyes off their captive. "What do we do with this one? From what I heard, she wanted to keep Xunaxa as a plaything."

Lurrock gave an angry rumble and hefted his hammer. "Only one way to deal with this filth!"

"No, Lurrock." Theayala didn't raise her voice, but her firm tone halted the dwarf before he could swing his weapon.

"What then?" He spat, and poked the hobgoblin with the toe of his boot. "Do to her what she wanted to do to Xunaxa?"

"No!" Xunaxa rose, turning to face the dwarf, but to her surprise her cry was echoed by the knight and elf.

Lurrock looked from one to the other, startled by their vehemence, then spat again and stamped off, hammer swinging in a tight arc before him.

Theayala kneeled beside their captive and laid a slim hand on her head. The hobgoblin woman flinched and tried to pull away, but something held her in place. Something besides the threat of Arivor's blade. "Tell me," the elf whispered, "tell me everything."

Xunaxa stepped away, coiling Demon's Tongue and returning it to its pouch on her belt. A sudden wave of weakness overtook her, and she found herself leaning against the rock, shivering and sucking in air.

Fuck!

It was no use telling herself that she was never in any real danger of being raped, that Arivor and the others were too close for anything to happen.

But what if there had been more hobgoblins? What if they'd cut me off from the rest, and...?

She willed herself not to look at what Theayala was doing to the hobgoblin woman. In some ways it was more intrusive than physical rape, and she couldn't stop herself from feeling sorry for the helpless captive. Even after what might have happened to herself.

A soft touch on her shoulder startled her, and she shrank back, biting her lip to stop herself from screaming. The touch vanished, and she heard Arivor's voice, soft and gentle.

"I'm sorry I took so long to join the fight."

His words battered at the whirlpool of thoughts filling in her mind, and she turned around in confusion. "Wh--?"

The regret was clear on his face. "I was right behind you. I could have jumped out to face the hobgoblins by your side. Instead I chose to wait, to come at them from behind." One hand came up, as if to touch her arm again, then dropped. "I apologise."

She gaped. "What--?" she began, then sighed. "You were there when it mattered."

"Was I?" He held out his hand -- his other one -- and she realised he had a flask in it. "Not water," he said with a smile when she hesitated.

It definitely wasn't water. A large swallow and several choked coughs later she handed the flask back. "Thanks," she gasped. "For... for it all."

He restoppered the flask without a word and sat, back leaning against the rock. "I don't like what Theayala is doing."

Xunaxa slid down until she was seated beside him. "Nor me." She glanced over at Lurrock, who'd taken up a guard position, hammer in hand. "He doesn't seem to mind."

"He's of the line of Hargan Foe-Hammer. He'd gladly inflict that and worse on any goblin or their kin."

She grunted, thought, then asked, "Who was Hargan Foe-Hammer?"

"A dwarven chieftain, perhaps two hundred years ago. His people were betrayed and slaughtered by goblins. Not many survived." The knight nodded in Lurrock's direction. "That hammer on his head tells the story."

Two hundred years was nothing for dwarves. Lurrock didn't look that old, but his parents might have been alive at the time of the slaughter. "That will do it. I had no idea."

Before Arivor could reply, Theayala rose smoothly to her feet, rubbing her hands together as if to wipe them clean. The hobgoblin's eyes were closed, her mouth slack.

"I have what I need," the elf-woman said. "The goblin chief has fled further into the caves."

They didn't linger. The hobgoblin woman was left where she was, still breathing but unconscious. Lurrock glared at her, but left her alone. The right thumb of her headless companion was already in his pouch.

"There is a passage that leads down," Theayala explained. "Chief Korrag has taken his wives into the deepest part of their lair."

Xunaxa went first again, using the steady light of Theayala's floating globe to look for unnatural lines in the stone. Almost immediately she halted, breath catching at the sight of a thin line of black a handspan from the floor. "Trap."

The others halted behind her. Arivor spoke. "Is there some way...?"

"Shh." She waved a hand absentmindedly, eyes following the cord to where it vanished into a crack in the passage wall. Close up, with Theayala's light hovering close, she could see how the end was looped around a wooden peg. Metal gleamed like moonlight behind it.

"Someone hand me a stone. About the size of my thumb."

A few moments later there was a sharp crack, then Lurrock leaned forward to pass her a rock. "Will this do?"

It had sharp edges along one side, and it was almost exactly the same size as her thumb. "Perfect." She wedged it into the crack, just below the cord, pushing it in until it almost touched the peg. "This should do it."

Shooing everyone back, she pressed herself against the rockface, then reached out with her knife and sliced the black cord. It fell to the stone, and inside the crack she heard a faint scraping, then nothing. She turned to look at her companions and grinned. "It's safe now."